Paintball Gun Buying Guide
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by: TimOsborn
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When purchasing paintball guns or markers (identical terms), one must do a little research.In order to reduce the number of paintball gun choices, it helps to identify the style of play and features you might be wanting or needing. This article will help guide you to the right choice.
One of the main things you should consider is where you are going to play. If playing at home or in the woods, you should note that the type of air you have access to is a key question. CO2 is relatively simple to obtain at local paintball stores or even at the local Walmart with a tank exchange stand. Compressed air is usually not so simple and if you plan to play mainly at home, it may be a good idea to stay away from paintball guns that use compressed air.
Care must be taken to use makes and models of paintball guns that are designed to run on CO2. The damage caused by using CO2 in a paintball gun designed to run compressed air is irreversible. We would hate to hear of someone using CO2 on a compressed air gun and literally throwing away their money as the internal parts are not designed to handle the liquid CO2. There are plenty of high quality paintball markers that are designed to run CO2.
There are many models of CO2 paintball guns. The main brand names are Spyder, Smart Parts and Tippmann paintball guns. You can choose electronic or non-electronic. Popular models of paintball guns are the Spyder Victor, Xtra, Sonic, Pilot, Electra, VS1, VS2, Smart Parts Vibe.
Staying with CO2 and a military feel are the Spyder MR1, MR2, MR3. Smart Parts has the SP1 a new release with excellent features and easy to maintain. The king of all military releases are the Tippmann paintball markers. There are so many to choose from and many are customizable. The low price points are Tippmann Alpha Black series of paintball guns. Considering the budget you will move up from the Tippmann Alpha Black to the Tippmann, 98 Custom Platinum, A5, X7 Series paintball markers. All are excellent choices for CO2 run markers.
If you have access to compressed air for your paintball markers, then budget and features are where you need to focus your study. Paintball guns range in prices requiring you to spend a little or you can spend a lot. Generally those spending a lot are not recreational players. They are pros or soon to be pros that need to have the utmost in the competitive advantage. Why do the features cost so much? Putting the best features in the lightest paintball guns means high cost. Once you have high cost you severely limit the market. So paintball gun manufacturers have to pick a price point and try to apply the features necessary to make the sales. This is why you should decide what features are important to you when choosing a paintball gun.
One of the main features on the market is if a gun is electronic or not. Electronic guns have modes that allow you to set the marker to firing modes. Electronic triggers or "egrips" often allow you to change the paintball marker from single firing mode (one shot one trigger pull) to 3-shot burst (one pull, 3 paintballs fired), to semi-auto (one pull one shot to ramping up to auto if you pull the trigger within a set time period) to full auto( one pull multiple firing). There are various features that help enable the gun to rapid fire such as anti-chop systems (ACS), electronic eyes etc. The key statistic to key on is the balls per second or bps.
We like to ask if you are the type of person that likes to take things apart and rebuild them? Or are you more likely to play, clean and put away until next time? If so, please buy a paintball gun that is easily maintained. Smart Parts has some very easy guns to maintain as are the new Tippmann Platinum Series paintball guns. Cleaning and lubricating your paintball guns is the key to longevity and happy ownership. If on the other hand you like to tinker with your equipment, there should not be any limitation in your choice. There is plenty of help with manuals, manufacturer internet sites, and help videos on Youtube.
Paintball markers can usually be upgraded. However, some a lot more than most. A Tippmann X7 paintball marker can be upgraded in several ways. Triggers, barrels, sights, magazines, foregrips, stocks and more. The Tippmann X7 paintball marker can be changed from an M16 to an M36 with a few upgrades. If upgrading is important to you, please research your model of paintball marker to see what can be added after purchasing. For example, the Tippmann Alpha Black Series are very economical to buy. They are meant to be starter guns. You cannot upgrade a Tippmann Alpha Black Basic to an Egrip because they have not made an upgrade for it. Instead, Tippmann made the Egrip model inexpensive so that you would buy the paintball gun with the electronic upgrade in the first place.
This article was the beginning of the fun involved in finding out what you really want and need. Decide on the air you have access to and match your style and type of play to the paintball guns you are interested in. Compare features and price ranges. Narrow in on your choices and finally buy a paintball gun and take out your friend or enemy in style!
About the Author
Paintball is exciting whether you do it every day or once a month, choosing the right Paintball Gun for you is vital. Buying from with a knowledgable Paintball Gun company will ensure you get the gun that is right for you.
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